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PROXIMITY MINES

(B-3: WEAPON)

Travis had the planets to which Coser had most likely fled seeded with small proximity mines in random orbits. They were virtually undetectable until they exploded, and one detonated when the Liberator drew close to one above UP-Weapon. No significant damage was sustained, however.

PSYCHOINSTRUCTION

(D-5: ANIMALS)

The final stage of Justin's perfection of Og, never completed.

PSYCHOMANIPULATION

(B-13: STAR ONE)

Psychomanipulation teams conditioned the technicians left behind on Star One to ensure that they did not try to disrupt the systems or broadcast its location. The head of the team responsible died under interrogation when Star One began to malfunction. Psychomanipulation may have involved similar techniques to those employed by criminotherapists.

PSYCHOSTRATEGIST

(B-3: WEAPON)

An expert on predicting the behaviour of an individual in given circumstances, assuming sufficient data was available. Carnell described himself as an "official" psychostrategist, suggesting that the Federation (or perhaps some other organisation) employed him especially for psychostrategical work. He also mentioned exacting a fee, which might indicate that he was working privately for Servalan or that Space Command had to buy his services from elsewhere in the Federation: the former seems more likely. The accuracy of a prediction depended on the psychostrategist having all the pertinent information: in Carnell's case, he was not told until too late of Rashel being with Coser, invalidating his predictions.

Psychostrategists were colloquially known as "puppeteers": Carnell was called such by Servalan's aide and he replied: "Do they still call us that?". The aide regarded him with something akin to awe, reflecting the power, putative or actual, that a psychostrategist had over individuals.

PUBLIC RECORDS COMPUTER

(A-1: THE WAY BACK)

Visited by Tel Varon when collecting evidence for Blake having been mistried. It is not stated whether this computer held records for the dome city alone, all of Earth's population or even some wider area, but the first seems most likely. Varon had to use his Justice Department credentials in order to get access to information, suggesting that general public access was not permitted. Three command codes were used by the duty officer (spoken to the control console): Alpha 3375 accessed medical records, Alpha 3377 school attendance records, and Alpha 00288-alpha Central Clinic admissions on a particular date. This last was classified and unavailable to Varon's Priority 3 clearance.

PULSE CODE

(B-7: KILLER)

Means of scrambling messages. The pulse code could only be broken with the TP-crystal fitted in an A-line converter.

PUPPETEER

- see PSYCHOSTRATEGIST

PURSER

(D-10: GOLD) written by Murray Smith

Originally the officer on board a ship who kept the accounts, and who usually had charge of the provisions. Later, on board passenger ships, the purser had the general responsibility for the passengers and their welfare.

Keiller, as Purser of the Space Princess in Gold, appeared to carry out this responsibility. He gave the passengers their day's itinerary, described the sights they could see, and promised that he, the captain, and the crew would 'endeavour to ensure' that the passengers would 'gain maximum enjoyment and instruction' from the voyage. All this was, however, done via recordings, his actual job being that of head of security, responsible for the safe delivery of the gold on board.

PURSUIT SHIPS

(various episodes)

The type of Space Command vessel most often encountered by Blake and Avon. Pursuit ships were first mentioned in Cygnus Alpha when Zen reported a "fleet of ships" changing course towards Liberator: it identified these vessels as pursuit ships. They were additionally encountered as follows:


Pursuit Ship (28K)

See also STARBURST CLASS PURSUIT SHIPS.

In Redemption Zen referred to the second DSV launched by the System as a pursuit ship.

PYLENE-50

(D-3: TRAITOR)

Invented by Forbus on an unspecified world, pylene-50 was intended to be used homeopathically as a muscle relaxant. When administered at 100 times normal dosage, it induced total docility and obedience (by blocking the production of adrenalin, according to Leitz). Leitz also observed that the work ethic was often reinforced by those "adapted" by it and that the effects of pylene-50 were immediate with no side-effects.

Commissioner Sleer used pylene-50 in her Pacification Programme on Helotrix and other worlds. On Helotrix at least it was injected by chemical laser, but by Warlord it was being pumped into air and water supplies. The enzyme bonds in the drug broke up within a few days of production and so it had to be manufactured where it was needed. The secret of manufacture appeared to be held by Forbus, forced to work for Sleer, but his death did not hinder the Pacification Programme or use of the drug, at least in the long term. Forbus also developed an antidote, which could not cure those already "adapted" by pylene-50, but could offer immunity to those who later came into contact with it. Avon needed Zukan to produce this antidote from a plant ostensibly growing in abundance on Betafarl.


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